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You know what I’m really tired of hearing?
”If you are studying nutrition, are you really gonna eat that?”

One thing people have to understand is that everyone sees health differently.
For some people health is looking good. For others it is going on the newest diet, being vegan, living dairy and gluten free, being as strong as possible, and for some people it is, sadly, not to eat at all.
We are all different.
I am studying nutrition and I promise you that when I graduate, my mates and I, we are not going to have the same opinions about health, even though we’ve studied the exact same thing.

For me health is moderation, in all its definitions, shapes and colors.

I’ve come such a long way to actually accept the fact that it is okay for me to eat that ice cream without guilt.
Before I had to call my mum just to get it approved that it was okay for me to have potato chips.

Since then, now, to me – all of me matter. My entire being. Not just my looks. I eat that ice cream because it makes me feel good, but then you should also see my fridge because it’s full of all this awesomeness that I like to call veggies! I eat very well to me, I may not be super healthy to you.

Instead of thinking ”this is going to make me fat”, I think ”how is this contributing to my health today?”. If it makes me happy/satisfied, yes, it will contribute to my well-being. And some days I just ask myself ”Am I in the mood for something sweet today?” No, then I won’t eat it – at that point they’re just empty calories that are not giving me any nutrients that my body needs, or contributing to my well-being.
Without this relationship with myself I might end up binge eating, as I am restricting myself from having something that I really want.

I attended a lecture a couple of months ago where a dietitian was talking about Health at Every Size, or the non-diet approach, which you know that I strongly support.
Anyhow, he said:
”One day you really want chocolate. But no, you’re not allowed to eat it as it is unhealthy. So you eat some almonds. The next day you are still craving that chocolate, but you have some more almonds and an apple. The third day you eat some almonds, an apple, and then some more almonds, then you end up eating the entire chocolate bar.”
This was a very clever thing for him to point out.
It is not as equally easy for everyone to stay ”healthy”, to ”hide” themselves from what they’re craving (I just picture myself running around in the grocery store with chocolate bars chasing me).
So imagine if you would have eaten that chocolate the first day? Maybe then you only would have had a little piece, instead of the entire thing. Then you wouldn’t have eaten those Extra calories that the almonds and the apples contributed with.
I wouldn’t say it works like this for everyone, but think about. Isn’t the things you restrict yourself from the ones you want so badly?

Just have in mind what health is to you, to your best friend or to your partner. It’s probably not the same.

I know a lot of you reading this know how to eat healthy, but a lot of people don’t.
Take my dad for example. I was talking about how expensive avocados are in Australia and he said ”What is an avocado? Is that the brown/green thing with the big seed in the middle.”
I thought it was funny that he barely knew what an avocado is, but I can bet you that he is not the only one.
My dad eats cucumber and tomatoes, at his best. And that was what I was brought up with.

I’m studying nutrition and I find it really hard to eat enough fruit and veggies everyday for example, cause I don’t know how/when to eat them. I just end up snacking on carrots throughout the day, not lot of variety if I may say so myself.

Some people probably know that they should eat healthier, but they don’t. Why is that? Are we afraid of trying something new? Are we too lazy to actually make an effort to make healthier food? And to be honest, some people actually seem scared of a nice looking salad instead of fries.

So today I want to talk about fruit and veggies.
Both fruit and veggies are fantastic sources of vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre, which is needed for an optimal health. The Australian Dietary guidelines suggests that you should eat 2 to 5 – at least 2 serves of fruit and 5 serves of veggies everyday. This increases the chance of maintaining a healthy weight and may decreases the risk for chronic disease, such as cancer.
It is also important to eat a Variety of this goodness to get all vitamins and minerals that the body needs. So no, snacking on a bag of carrots everyday is just gonna turn me orange.
Some studies also show that eating vegetables and fruit with your meals increases your satiety, especially if they are high in dietary fibre.

I just want to say to you: – Just the smallest step towards a healthier lifestyle is enough, and it is also important – for you current and future health.
Maybe start by adding spinach to your lunch and dinner, as this contains iron and magnesium. And it is easy to eat, at least for me.
Or why not make a fresh salad with spinach, tomatoes, kidney beans and some melon. – This is something I like, mixing fruit into my salads. Also add some pumpkin seeds to give your salad some crunch and additional protein.
It might not be a lot of an add/change, but remember – a small step to your healthier life. Also, creating a healthy sustainable lifestyle will in the long run promote a better well-being.

I would say that I’m a pretty healthy person. I take good care of my body, inside-out.
I see a personal trainer once a week, I see an osteopath after the accident, I ride my bike everywhere (but still haven’t been up on that horse since the accident), I do yoga, and I spend my time with people that have the kind of energy I want to surround myself with.
But one of my favorite healthy habits is the Sunday markets. This is truly one of my happy places.
There I get all my fruit and veggies for the week. Organic, cheap, and I am supporting local farmers – which I love.
But it’s not just that, it is also the atmosphere.
I go there every week with two friends of mine that happens to be psychologist students – so of course this is my therapeutic time for the week – a lot of talk, love, laughs and hugs.
I also get to be part of a community where people recognize me, and sometimes give me bargin’ deals on fruit. Come on, is there anything better?
And of course – cuddles with all the cute dog (my favorite!).

It is not just about eating healthy and being active, but also create habits that stick – like going to the farmers markets. Your fruit and veggie intake will probably increase by just looking at all of this delicious food from mother earth, smelling, tasting. Trying new healthy foods that you might end up loving!

I know that back home, in Sweden, farmers markets might not be a thing where you live which makes this harder. And to be honest, I hate going to the grocery store. So to make this easy for you all – move to Australia.

You also get incredible spoiled with all of these fresh, amazing fruit and veggies!

Winter break – which means that I’m done with half my bachelor degree.
As you all know I am studying nutrition, and as you all also know is that there is nutrition information everywhere. And I mean absolutely EVERYWHERE! And why do we blindly trust everything we read/hear about nutrition? We’re not even looking at the facts, we just ingest whatever someone, who we think might know Something about nutrition, says.
How many of you haven’t looked up online to see what a celebrity eats?
I cannot remember how many times I’ve done this. And it’s all from that totally impressive yoga nerd to Blake Lively. Or that one celebrity that wrote a book about what to eat but they have no education whatsoever about nutrition.

I’ve done half my degree and there’s still so much more to learn.
After the first year I couldn’t say that I’d learnt so much as it was mostly science subjects, but by my third semester we started to get into it and it reminded me of why I study nutrition. But I don’t know enough for people to blindly trust me.
But it’s funny, for example;
I went into a health store cause yes, I self-diagnosed myself that, maybe, I’m iron deficient. There I ended up talking about food and supplements with the lady working.
Which resulted in me buying things I cannot afford just because the lady told me that I was probably lacking this and that in my diet. And I’m not saying that she doesn’t know what she’s doing, she probably is. But I’ve listened to so many different ”health” people about what to and what not to eat.
Nutrition also has a lot of ”health-trends”, which bugs me like crazy.
”Right now we’re eating coconut oil. Cause coconut oil is awesome, and it is so healthy.” Coconut oil is awesome, it is deliciously awesome. But how healthy is it? Do you know? Or are you just eating it cause everyone is telling you to?
”Did you know that peanut butter prevents your stomach from bloating? I saw that on a picture on Instagram”…………

I’m not telling you to not eat coconut oil. I eat coconut oil. I also use it on my body, in my hair and as lube.

This day started off really bad and I was just irritated about everything – the effects of yet another night of bad sleep. And you know that feeling when you’re trying to think happy thoughts but it’s just now working – you just want to crawl back to bed. I literally had to tell myself before I walked out of the door to start my day; ”I can do this.” And boy, I did.
Went to a yoga class at The Spit here in Mooloolaba with some lovely people, and it was exactly what I needed to calm my mind. So Saturdays at 8 am, let me know if you guys are keen to come with me next time!
Later on Alle and myself ended up at the beach, where I was trying to remind myself to be grateful for this amazing place I live in. It is so freaking beautiful here and I wish all of you could be here with me. We talked old memories and just laughed about how cray cray we are sometimes!
The absolute best thing about this day was my lunch, me and some friends of mine had a three hour long lunch with stimulating conversations about everything and nothing. It is so uplifting to know that I have people like these that I can share my thoughts and emotions with, they are so loving and they give me so much energy. For that I am grateful!

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About Penny

Here to inspire and motivate.
Third year nutrition student at USC on the beautiful Sunny Coast of Australia.
I'm still learning, and everything you read here are my own thoughts and interests.
Crazy lifestyle blog about yoga, food, meditation, body acceptance, and overall embracing the self.